Shadplank: Who wants the most thankless job in Virginia politics?

House Minority Leader David Toscano, D-Charlottesville right, during the first day back to session for Virginia's General Assembly at the State Capitol in Richmond on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018.

House Minority Leader David Toscano, D-Charlottesville right, during the first day back to session for Virginia's General Assembly at the State Capitol in Richmond on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018. (Aileen Devlin/Daily Press / Daily Press)

It is possibly one of the most thankless jobs in Virginia politics. But with a state election next year that could flip control of the House of Delegates, being minority leader could also mean auditioning to be the next speaker.

And that’s one of the most powerful positions in the state.

Del. David Toscano, D-Charlottesville, said this month he plans to step down as minority leader, but remain in the House and seek re-election.

The reason? For starters, it’s tough enough to be a citizen legislator when you make a living as a lawyer in a small firm, as Toscano does. Then there’s the challenge of leading 48 strong-minded fellow legislators and the need to generate some $1.5 million a year for Democratic campaign war chests.

All in all, it’s easy to see why the gentlemanly Toscano might think he’d rather just be the delegate from Charlottesville and spend more time with family.

The Blue Virginia blog (and a hat tip for being more than on top of this story) reports House Democrats will vote on a new minority leader in early December, with Toscano handing over the post on Dec. 31.

That’s a lot of people from Northern Virginia. And while Herring and Filler-Corn have each been in the House for nearly a decade, Rasoul, Simon and Sullivan took office in 2014 (though Simon worked as a legislative aide to Del. Jim Scott in the 1990s). In contrast, Del. Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights, had already served 28 years in the House when he was elected speaker earlier this year.

So far, the only Democrat who can match (actually beat) that length of time in the General Assembly trenches is Del. Ken Plum, D-Fairfax. He had feelers out after the 2017 election but before the lot-drawing in the tied 94th district race that returned Del. David Yancey, R-Newport News, to the House and kept the GOP in control. Del. Vivian Watts, D-Fairfax, comes closest to Cox’s length of service with a quarter century in the House. But neither have been calling around, it seems.

Still, jumping in early doesn’t always win a caucus nod. And it may be worth remembering that the Northern Virginia-rest of the state fissure in state politics can be a factor in the Capitol’s game-playing.

Amazon doubts, Virginia-style

You might expect New Yorkers to be blunt — as many were over the billions the city and state are giving Amazon — but Virginians?

No, you won't hear Virginians channeling New York City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, who blasted officials there for “throwing nearly $3 billion at the richest man in the world and then promising a secretive grease-the-wheels process that avoids ‘messy’ public votes and hearings that might muck up the works.” Nor will there be any Virginian echoes of New York state Sen. Michael Gianaris's Kennedyesque “Ask not what we can do for Amazon. Ask what Amazon can do for us.”

Listen carefully, though, and you might hear someone like state Sen. Ryan McDougle, R-Hanover, ask (while already knowing the answer) if Virginia’s deal with Amazon involved any funding for broadband, so his rural constituents might actually be able to go to Amazon’s online store.

The answer, by the way, is no.

Or you might hear state Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield, say she doesn't like the idea of using hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars to subsidize a business. That kind of money, she thinks, ought to be spread across the whole state. As a believer in the idea that lower taxes stimulate economic growth, she told a recent Senate Finance Committee retreat that Virginia needs to think about a corporate income tax cut if it really wants to encourage economic development.

State Sen. Lionell Spruill, D-Chesapeake, is not the only Virginia politician looking at the state's promise of support for Amazon's HQ2 project in Crystal City and wondering what's in it for his constituents.

State Sen. David Suetterlein, R-Roanoke County, is scratching his head over the highway funding implications of an apparent shift of state funds for roadworks near the Amazon site, even as he wonders how or if the state will tackle that dangerously congested western Virginia lifeline called Interstate 81. The state is offering some $295 million in additional funding for a variety of road and transit improvements around Crystal City.

All of which, no doubt, is why the head of the state’s economic development agency, Stephen Moret, hits hard on how the state will spend up to $590 million to boost college and university programs in computer science and related fields outside of Northern Virginia.

The reputation of the whole state will get a boost because Amazon gave Crystal City the nod for half its HQ2 project, said Moret, president and CEO of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership.

And while Amazon itself will get grants of up to $550 million if it in fact hires 25,000 people at salaries averaging at least $150,000 a year, those employees will be paying taxes, Moret points out.

He says state coffers will see a positive cash flow from year one, rising to $157 million after 10 years and $300 million in year 17.

Still, that’s a lot of state money going to a company worth close to $1 trillion on the stock market. A company that’s setting up in the wealthiest part of the state. A company that insisted on a nondisclosure agreement to shield parts of the state’s discussions with it.

Virginians are not be as blunt as New Yorkers.

So, asked if he’s braced for New York style skepticism about Amazon, Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City County, says only: “I expect there will be some discussion.”